Small favors
by Chyrstis
Summary: Troy's not the first one up for once. -Post-SRIV-


Done for a prompt given for Troy/Johnny - Magnanimous. Just something short-ish and sweet.

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><p>Something tickled his nose. It brushed against it, faint and light, and when Troy shifted he felt a warm weight shift with him. The soft skin that moved under his fingertips as he heard a low hum, and when they pressed closer, that feeling came with it. Featherlight, and present enough for him to give up any chance of ignoring it.<p>

Wrinkling his nose, he couldn't dodge it. Only felt that small sensation keep on teasing at him while he turned his head, until he had no choice but to slowly open his eyes. The tangle of red hair told him enough, and he raised a hand to brush those strands down and along the back of V's neck. He watched her shoulders move as he traced his index finger over the lines of her tattoo, the white ink swirling over her skin, and pressed his lips to it before rolling onto his back.

It was still dark, or at least dark enough to keep the room dim, and Troy rubbed his eyes as he felt his brain begin jumpstarting itself. Usually his alarm had to cut through the peace, but maybe he'd beaten the damn thing for once. It was only a matter of seeing how much longer he could hold onto this space before he had no choice but to leave it.

So he curled his arms back around V's midsection, moving them under the sheet to take in that warmth as her hips fit against his. Kissing the back of her neck earned him another small sound, and he soaked it all in as he let his eyes slip shut.

But time ticked by as he slowly felt himself start to doze off again, those five minutes he thought he'd earned kept on stretching until he was sure he'd spent almost fifteen in the same spot. Not even Johnny had moved much, or said much, and Troy waited for him to try and wrap himself around V as well.

It had happened a handful of times already, where Troy would wake up early, semi-tangled in the two with Johnny's arm draped over V to rest on his side or hip. That didn't count the times that he woke up only to find his own limbs wandering, but he typically didn't move around like they did once he was out. He could stay in one spot all night while they made their way from one side to the other, provided he wasn't giving them a poor tether.

But he'd easily fallen back into the habit of reaching out for V again, even subconsciously, and when he felt her arms pull him close – and hell, even Johnny's light touch at times – it made it that much easier to let all of it go. To just distance himself from the bullshit he'd dealt with throughout the day.

And he couldn't see himself without any of it now. An empty place without either of their items scattered throughout it, their voices always within earshot, or an empty bed. Somehow they all adjusted and fit, and for all the arguments he could've tried to tell himself before - how it wouldn't have had a snowball's chance in hell of working period - he could've easily shrugged them off now. Maybe even offered his past self a heavy jacket, because the chill was only picking up and he'd always been fond of colder weather.

Opening his eyes to peek over her shoulder, Troy blinked a few times until it sank in that the reason why Johnny hadn't stepped in yet was because he wasn't there at all. Troy raised himself up as he examined the empty spot then glanced at the clock. 7:12 AM. Fucking early for Johnny, but not early enough for him.

_Did he hit the clock? Fuck._ Troy groaned as he slowly extricated himself from V, giving her one more kiss before she could draw him back in, and got up. She never got up before eight without serious intervention, so he didn't see any need to disturb her now. Even if her attempts to drag the pillow over her head or throw it at him would've had him grinning for the rest of the morning.

He still wasn't a hundred percent aware, but there was no way he'd be able to get back to sleep now after seeing those numbers. Slipping on the first things he could get his hands on, he kept on wiping his eyes and stifling a yawn as one thing came to mind. Coffee. He might have been moving, but he wouldn't start functioning until caffeine hit his system.

Johnny had left most of the lights off, which helped Troy's eyes adjust as he entered the living room, but the light from the kitchen caught his attention. Made him squint as he stared at it, but the brighter one out of the corner of his eye made him curious as he slowly closed the bedroom door behind him.

The light to the dining room hadn't been switched on, but the desk lamp that Johnny had hauled over had Troy blinking against it while he approached the dining table. When he was able to pry them open enough to focus, he noticed Johnny's back was to him as he remained focused on the task in front of him. Dressed in only a pair of shorts, he seemed as if he'd dragged himself out of bed straight to this very spot. Something hit Troy's nose, something volatile that made him wrinkle it, and it took a good five minutes for him to recognize what Gat was holding.

"Morning," Johnny said, gruffly. He wiped V's pistol down and held it up, hefting it as he took aim at a spot on the wall in front of him.

"Uh, morning." Troy scrubbed a hand through his hair, and tried not to mumble his way through the next sentence. "You're up early."

He put the gun down, and wiped his hands off with a cloth. "Your ass wasn't up, so it can't be that early."

Troy bit his tongue when he thought of the alarm, but wasn't in the mood to push it. "What's going on with this?" He gestured toward the cleaning supplies surrounding Johnny, and the care he was taking with V's weapon. "Aside from the obvious. V ask you to check it?"

"...No," Gat said, and Troy let his eyes drift back to him. His jaw didn't have that kind of tension there before, and it didn't seem to be fading. "It jammed the other day. She was trying some new rounds, and it refused to fire or some shit."

Troy blinked at him, a hell of a lot more awake now. "Just like that?"

"It fired once she was able to clear it, but it was a fucking first. Hadn't done that at all before now, and she was going to open it up this morning to find the problem."

"And you couldn't wait?"

Picking it up again, Johnny gently placed it next to its twin. "Something comes up, she won't have the time to."

Troy pursed his lips. "No, probably not. She'd give it a quick check and go with it. Maybe even tell herself the back up's more than enough."

"Which can fuck her up if she half-asses it."

She didn't always, but Troy understood the sentiment. Knew that to take care of both of those guns as thoroughly as Troy suspected he did, Johnny had to have been up for a while already, and wasn't going to rest until it was fixed. "Is it good now?"

"Yeah. Easy fix. Just got to fire it later."

Troy felt the corner of his mouth quirk up, but let it drop when he saw Johnny go for another gun. One that Troy had missed on his quick scan of the table before, but now was completely sure he knew what he was looking it. That was his handgun, and he wasn't sure what to make of the way Gat was running his fingers over it as he pulled back the slide. "And that?"

"This?"

"You going to tell me what's up with that?" Troy asked, walking right up beside him.

"Giving it a check. The fuck you think I'm doing?"

"It's-" Troy paused as he watched Gat strip it quickly, and hated how his brain chose now of all times to stall. "It's fine. The thing's getting up there in years, but fires fine."

"I know."

"I also just cleaned the damn thing. You were there."

But Gat kept on going. Had the handgun down to its basest components in no time flat, and Troy couldn't even come up with a proper response. Not with the kind of care being taken as Johnny wiped down each part, scrubbed what little dirt had accumulated off, until everything was spotless.

Troy could only remember one time Johnny had helped him like this before. It had been a nasty jam in the middle of clearing out a Rollerz hotspot. Everything had been running like clockwork when they rolled in, but when they busted in, Troy took aim and felt his stomach drop when nothing happened. That hesitation and horror nearly got him a bullet to the head, but Gat stepped in quick, shoving him down to avoid the rest. It left him feeling like an idiot as he grabbed a spare gun and helped mop up whatever Johnny left behind.

Later at the church, however, Johnny had taken the gun right off of him, and proceeded to break it down just like this. Fast and thorough, and with an ease that put everyone else to shame. That degree of skill still held Troy's attention, even now, and he had to shake himself out of it when Johnny gave him a look over his shoulder.

"Thanks," Troy offered, and hoped his face wasn't pulling a V right then, even with the warmth he was feeling. He ran a hand over his mouth, and gestured towards the kitchen. "Guess I'll uh, leave you to that. Want anything from the kitchen?"

It took a moment, but Gat shook his head.

Taking it as his cue to leave, Troy walked from one bright light toward another. His eyes had adjusted well by that point, but they didn't prepare him for what his nose picked up on the minute he walked in.

Coffee. Freshly brewed, or at least enough to fill the space with that familiar, comforting smell.

Troy approached the coffee pot, and noticed it was full. Roughly the amount he opted for every morning, and hot to the touch. Gat didn't have a cup out there with him, and Troy suspected he wouldn't grab one. He inhaled the scent deeply before drinking out of the cup he had poured for himself, and while it was a hair weaker than his usual, it wasn't by much. In fact, it was pretty damn close, and more than enough to be satisfying.

Putting it down on the counter, Troy rubbed the back of his neck, and couldn't come up with anything. Nothing aside from the feeling pricking at the edge of his senses that kept his eyes from wandering back out into the living room.

"Thanks," Troy said again, low enough for only him to hear it, and wished he could do better.

But that didn't stop him from trying. Even if it was something simple like extra supplies for the cleaning kit, and a six-pack of Gat's favorite beer. It was the least he could do, and when he set both down on the dining table later that night, Troy didn't wait to catch Johnny's reaction before sweeping V up in his arms.

He didn't miss that small nod, however, or the start of a grin. And when Johnny passed one of those beers his way, Troy didn't hesitate to take it.


End file.
